Forced conversion of Hindu girls on the rise: Pak Hindu Council

The head of the Pakistan Hindu Council Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Member National Assembly has condemned the rise in

kidnapping of Hindu girls, forced conversion and marriage.

Talking to the media outside Parliament House on Tuesday he referred to the recent kidnapping of a Hindu woman, Lucky Bhel from Sindh who was reportedly forced to marry a follower of a local religious leader.

“Another Hindu teacher, Sapna Rani, from Peshawar was recovered after 15 days with the active support of media and civil society,” he said.

Dr. Ramesh Kumar said that the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had promised minorities their rights and the Constitution of Pakistan also guaranteed their protection. He pledged support for the victims’ families and said he would raise the issue on every available forum including Parliament and take up the grievances of the Hindu community.

Earlier this year, the Sindh Government had set up a three member committee to examine a law to stop forced marriages of Hindu girls.

Activists in Karachi have said there are 20 such cases every month and last year the case of Rinkle Kumari went right upto the Supreme Court which allowed her and two other girls to decide their future.

Courtesy:thehindu dot com

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Abductor Tried to Forcibly Convert Me: Pak Hindu Woman

 

A Hindu woman school teacher, who was reported missing last month, has told a magistrate in this northwestern Pakistani city that her kidnapper tried to force her to convert her faith and marry him.

Sapna Rani, aged around 25, told Magistrate Mohammad Fayyaz Khan that her abductor kept her unconscious most of the time while she was in captivity, the Dawn daily reported today.

Khan directed police to conduct a medical examination of Rani and submit a report.

Rani was recovered from Khairpur area of Bahawalpur in Punjab province late on Saturday after police officer Shaheenullah Khan traced her through the cell-phone of her alleged captor, Zahid Nawaz.

Nawaz is a resident of Bahawalpur.

Rani had gone missing on December 21 while returning home from her school in Paharipura area of Peshawar. She told the magistrate that a car stopped near her and she fell unconscious when a person put a cloth doused with an anaesthetic on her face.

She said when she gained consciousness a day later, she saw a man later identified as Zahid Nawaz present in the room. She said whenever she gained consciousness, Nawaz would demand that she should marry him after converting to Islam.

She said on her refusal, Nawaz would put an anaesthetic-doused cloth on her face.

Rani said as she was unconscious most of the time, she was unsure whether she was sexually assaulted.

Police had registered a case after a complaint was lodged by her cousin, Suresh Kumar.

The kidnapping had created unrest among the Hindu community in Peshawar and its leaders appealed to authorities to recover the teacher.

Police said they made special efforts to trace the woman as her family was poor and passing through a lot of distres
courtesy:news dot outlookindia dot com

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